Amy Choate-Nielsen: Post-college test may revolutionize resumes

The Collegiate Learning Assessment is in answer to a growing complaint from employers who are looking for employees with more than a degree. According to a study of this year's employers' hiring priorities, more than 75 percent of employers said they are looking for employees with skills in critical thinking, complex problem-solving and written and oral communication.

A new version of the Collegiate Learning Assessment could help recent college graduates distinguish themselves as desired potential employees with strong analytical skills.

“Employers are looking for any way they can find to make a good hiring decision. It is a big investment in resources of all kinds — money, time, everything else — to hire someone and onboard them and train them. If they make a bad hiring decision, it is so costly.”

Stan Inman, director of career services at the University of Utah

Not so fast, high school seniors, who look so relieved after taking the SAT or ACT.

You may think you just took a standardized test for the last time, since you've already been accepted to college and your degree will land you a job, but times have changed. This fall, colleges and universities are offering a new standardized test, which measures analytic, reasoning and communication skills in an essay format, to students who may feel like the university name on their diploma isn't enough to set themselves apart from their fellow graduates.

The Collegiate Learning Assessment is in answer to a growing complaint from employers who are looking for employees with more than a degree. According to a study of this year's employers' hiring priorities, more than 75 percent of employers said they are looking for employees with skills in critical thinking, complex problem-solving and written and oral communication.

Colleges have long had an interest in testing to know how well their students attain these skills by graduation, but for the last decade, it was purely for internal purposes. Students didn't know their results, and potential employers didn't ask. But now, as the value of a college degree and GPA are increasingly being questioned as a measure of education, students are looking for new ways to prove they are smart.

Now, instead of taking a test to get into college, they may start taking a test to get out.

The CLA+

More than 10 years ago, Roger Benjamin, president of the Council for Aid to Education, a nonprofit organization dedicated to conducting research on higher education and fundraising, and his colleagues had an idea: why not make a test to measure the quality of student learning in higher education? Universities could ascertain what knowledge their students acquired along with their degrees and make changes if their findings were disappointing. Benjamin imagined the results could provide a helpful insight in shaping curriculum and establishing a benchmark to compare universities.

That's how the Collegiate Learning Assessment began in 2002. Since then, more than 700 institutions in the U.S. and abroad have administered the 90-minute test, which is called CLA+, for short, for internal purposes. This fall marks the first time some 200 schools will offer the test to students for their own use.

"Let's put it this way, I think there is room for something like this," Benjamin said. "I think the biggest market for something like this is not in the selective colleges, not in the 'Princetons,' but what about the high-ability students who are graduating from public universities? If the main GPA is 3.3, students don't really have all that much that distinguishes their ability from other students. There are a lot of good students, and I don't think they get a fair shake right now."

Scoring well on a test that displays students' cognitive abilities could be just the thing to give recent graduates an advantage in the job market, Benjamin says.

Employer expectations

Employers looking to hire recent graduates have a growing complaint: their prospective employees don't know how to function in the workplace.

Studies show students are earning higher grades now, but they may be learning less, and employers are starting to notice. According to "Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses," a study that analyzed the results of the CLA+ over a four-year period, 36 percent of students did not "demonstrate any significant improvement in learning." And according to a study of employers' hiring priorities this year by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, more than 75 percent of those surveyed said they want "more emphasis on five key areas, including critical thinking, complex problem-solving, written and oral communication and applied knowledge in real-world settings."

Popular Comments

Just another way for the education complex to make money off of students. Now
there will be test prep classes, cliff notes, study materials, test strategy
materials and of course, testing fees. It is one more useless exercise for
folks who are
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9:36 a.m. Sept. 3, 2013

Top comment

Commenter88

Salt Lake City, Utah

The remedy for the inadequacy of standardized tests is not another standardized
test. More likely, it is a remedy for sagging revenue curves in the standardized
test industry. Standardized tests will always be weak and limited in
demonstrating actual
More..

10:48 a.m. Sept. 3, 2013

Top comment

Vince Ballard

South Ogden, UT

If properly geared, this test could distinguish between those who merely bumbled
their way through school and those who have life skills. Deficits in judgment,
critical thinking, leadership and decision making are deficient in many
graduates of both
More..

Amy Choate-Nielsen is a special projects reporter for the Deseret News where she covers a variety of in-depth issues, including the environment, public welfare and education. Since joining the paper in 2004, she has more ..